To Lance or Not to Lance
by bluejwrtr
Summary: A near-fatal run-in with a strange energy-sucking creature results in Lance discovering abilities that he technically shouldn't be able to have. Set soon after "Crystal Venom," but before the last two episodes of season one. No specific pairings.
1. Prologue

Voltron flew over the dark surface of the stony planet, its eyes glowing a deep yellow to illuminate the rocks below. The paladins were quiet now. It had been a long day.

Of course, Lance had to be the one to break the silence. "Maybe we should get back to the castle? You know, regroup? Re-plan? Whatever you call it?"

"Get some food?" Hunk added.

"We have to find this thing before it can hurt anyone else," said Shiro. "You saw what it did. If it gathers enough energy to leave the planet, it could do some major damage."

"But we've been looking for hours!" Lance complained. "What if it's already gone?"

"Coran and Allura would have spotted it," Pidge interjected.

"Are you sure? It was pretty sneaky," said Hunk.

"Just shut up and keep looking," Keith snapped.

"You might not be tired, but the lions are! Blue needs a good long nap."

"Me and Yellow could use one of those too."

"Just a little longer," said Shiro firmly. "We have to make sure it's nowhere near the village before we go back to the castle." The paladins lapsed into silence again.

Lance rubbed his eyes. Why was he so tired? Blue purred apologetically at the back of his mind. _Is it you?_ he asked silently. His lion had taken a lot of damage earlier. His connection to Blue must be allowing him to feel the effects. He didn't know it could do that. Why had it never happened before? Maybe he'd just never noticed.

He snapped up straight as Allura's voice came over the comms. "Paladins, we have a serious problem. The power drain on the castle has reached critical levels. We need a safe place to land."

"How will we know if it's safe? We have no way of detecting the creature," said Pidge. "Unless you've come up with something."

Lance felt a sudden strange feeling wash over him. His skin went all numb and tingly and a cold sweat broke out on his forehead. Blue was trying to tell him something. Land? He hadn't felt like this since that one time he'd fainted after seeing his little sister get a nosebleed.

"Lance? What are you doing?" Shiro asked. Lance blinked, and realized that Blue was flying a little too low, throwing Voltron off balance.

"Something's wrong with Blue. I don't know . . ." he trailed off, trying to figure out the feelings that Blue was sending him.

"I think I know what it is," said Coran. "I'm reading a serious power drain in Blue, just like the one we're experiencing in the castle."

"Should we separate and send Blue back?" Shiro asked.

"Um, no, that would be a very bad idea. I think the rest of Voltron is the only thing keeping Blue up right now. The other lions seem to be lending Blue energy, but it's not going to last much longer."

"Which needs to land first, Blue or the castle?"

"Blue, definitely Blue. The castle has at least half-an-hours' worth of juice left."

Lance felt his stomach do a flip as Blue suddenly dipped. He heard the other paladins grunt as they tried to compensate with their own lions. "Guys? What's the plan?" His own voice sounded weird to him, ringing oddly in his helmet. He blinked as his vision went blurry for a moment and then focused again. Blue groaned in his head, and suddenly they were falling. Distantly he heard the other paladins yelling, but their words were unintelligible, almost like he was underwater.

He vaguely felt a jolt as they hit the ground. Blue had gone silent, a sudden absence that he hadn't felt in months. "Blue . . . he muttered, and then slumped over in his seat, letting the exhaustion take him.


	2. Before

Author's Note: Sorry, I'm new at this so some of the formatting and stuff might be weird. Any helpful suggestions or constructive criticism is much appreciated!

Chapter One

 _A few hours earlier…_

"Hey, guys!" Lance said, strolling into Pidge and Hunk's workshop with his hands stuffed into his jacket pockets. They were both hunched over something small on Pidge's desk. He got a little closer and looked over to see that it was some kind of circuit board. "Whatcha doin'?

Pidge was holding a tiny screwdriver in one hand, delicately poking at the circuit board. "Shh!" she said, waving her free hand at Lance.

"It's a very delicate process," Hunk explained. He was using both hands to hold the circuit board still.

"What is that?"

"Can we please do this later?" Pidge snapped. "You really, _really_ do not want me to mess this up."

"Oh, well, okay." Lance straightened up. "Catch you guys at dinner?"

"You betcha, buddy," Hunk said, his eyes still on the circuit board. Lance smiled and waited just a moment longer. When they didn't say anything else, he walked away, frowning.

Everybody in the castle had been so tense lately. Allura, he could understand. She'd just had to heal a whole planet and then basically re-lost her father only a few days later. But everybody else had been kinda off too. Even Coran, who normally cracked at least as many jokes as Lance, had been unusually somber. Maybe it was the whole castle-going-crazy thing. That had sure freaked _him_ out. Lance shuddered as he remembered nearly getting sucked out of the air lock. That had been truly terrifying. His shoulders still ached a little bit from getting yanked around in there.

The ache reminded him that he hadn't tried bothering Keith yet. He was always slightly annoyed by Lance, so he probably couldn't get too much grouchier, right? Decision made, Lance headed towards the training area. He could hear the sounds of fighting before he even got in, grunting and the pings of Keith's sword as it hit the gladiator robot. Lance stuck his head around the door and was surprised to see Shiro there too. He was just about to say something when he heard what Keith was talking about.

"-I just feel like everything is a joke to him. He still acts like we're still at the Garrison, on some simulated mission or something. You'd think almost getting killed would have knocked some sense into him, but it seems like it only made him worse." Keith blocked a slash from the gladiator and kicked it back against the wall.

Shiro wiped sweat off his forehead and took a defensive stance as the robot got up and headed towards him. "People react to trauma in different ways. And Lance is just a kid, you know." He easily fended off the robot, sending it back towards Keith.

"He's only a few months younger than me."

"Yeah, but you've had to grow up a lot faster than most people. He'll get there, just give him some time."

Lance had heard enough. He quietly closed the door and stepped back, fuming. Keith was not more mature than he was! He'd gotten himself expelled from the Garrison, after all. Lance let out a huff and set off down the hallway towards the control room. Maybe Coran would be in a mood to talk by now. The last time he'd seen him, he'd been hard at work fixing the castle's heat shields, which had taken a real beating after their most recent near-death experience. He'd been polite, but made it clear that he didn't have time to talk to Lance right then.

"Coran?" Lance stepped into the room. It looked deserted, but Coran could still be under something working. "Are you in here?" There was no reply. Maybe he'd gone to get something. Lance walked up to the crystal in the center of the room. After seeing the Balmera it came from, he realized what a risk Hunk and Coran had taken in getting it here. Thinking about that brought back other memories. He'd been standing right here when he'd seen the fake Rover, heard the beeping and realized it was about to explode. Lance shuddered, remembering the bolt of fear that had hit him just before he'd called out for Coran and . . . everything after that was a blank until he'd woken up in the healing pod.

"Lance?" It was Coran, standing in the doorway, holding what looked like a bunch of wires. "Did you change your mind and decide to come help?"

Lance rubbed the back of his neck. "Um, yeah, something like that."

"Great! Hold these for a tick." Coran dumped the wires into his arms and then ducked under the main control panel. "I just need to . . . ah, that could be a problem."

"What?" asked Lance, crouching down to see what he was doing.

"Hand me the yellow wire, will you?" He did so, and watched for a minute as Coran shifted around, muttering to himself. Soon he found himself looking up at the crystal again. A strange feeling came over him and he remembered seeing the room filled with smoke, the crystal missing. Lance shook his head. He hadn't seen that. He'd been unconscious after the explosion.

"Now the red," said Coran, sticking out his hand. Lance handed it to him. "Where's your chatter, Lance? Normally you talk more than a hyperactive yelmore on sloshjuice."

"Should I be offended by that?"

"No, I was always quite fond of yelmores. When I wasn't trying to shoo them out of my garden back on Altea. Blue wire, please."

"Right." Lance smiled. Coran, at least, was being as unintelligible as usual. "I'm just glad you aren't making me clean the healing pods. I do not want to end up trapped in one of those again."

"You should show more respect for those pods! They did save your life."

"Before one almost froze me to death! Not cool, really not cool."

Coran's chuckling was broken off as a loud beeping came from the control panel he was working on. "Oh dear," he said, emerging and squinting at the little red light that had just started blinking.

"What is it?"

Coran pressed a few buttons and the projector came on, surrounding them with stars. He pointed at one of the stars just above them. "We have a new distress signal coming from a planet right about there." He pressed another button. "Paladins, Princess, you're needed in the control room. Looks like we've got another planet to save!"


	3. Recon

Chapter Two

"How do we know it's not a Galra trap?" asked Shiro. They were all gathered in the control room now, looking at the planet that Coran had pointed out.

"It could be, but if innocent lives are in danger we have to help," Allura said firmly. "That's what Voltron is meant to do."

"Hey, if it's a trap, we just get another chance to kick some Galra butt," said Lance. "Maybe I'll finally get that parade I've been waiting for!"

Keith and Pidge both shot him a dirty look. The others ignored him. Allura closed her eyes in exasperation. "Shiro's right. We do need to be careful. We'll approach with caution, ready to fight."

"I could scout ahead," said Pidge.

"Good idea," said Allura. "Pidge will scout out the situation. I want the rest of you ready with your lions in case something goes wrong."

"You can count on us, Princess!" said Lance with grin. 

* * *

Of course, something did go wrong. As soon as they got close enough to the planet that had sent the distress signal, Pidge had used her cloaking device on the Green Lion and set out under cover of invisibility. The others waited in their lions. Lance tapped his foot in anticipation, imagining Voltron going up against some new Galra creature and winning yet again. Surely there had to be some alien women down there that might appreciate his dramatic telling of their miraculous victory.

Pidge's voice came over the comms. "I don't see any evidence of Galra ships in the vicinity. I'm heading for the place where the distress signal came from, but so far I don't see anything."

"Any signs of inhabitants?" asked Shiro.

"No . . . wait. I see a few buildings down there. Looks like a village. I think that's where the signal's coming from. I still don't see anybody, though. Allura, did you scan for life signs already?"

"I tried, but there's some kind of interference."

"Galra?" asked Shiro.

"Could be a natural phenomenon. Maybe some kind of radiation messing with the scanners," Coran chipped in.

"I would have noticed radiation by now. I already had Green scan for that kind of stuff, and there wasn't anything unusual. The air's even breathable."

"Don't land just yet," said Shiro.

"I can't check the buildings in my lion," Pidge said, a note of impatience in her voice.

"If there's no sign of the Galra, why can't a couple of us go down there and give her some backup?" Keith asked.

"Yeah, that's actually a good idea!" said Lance.

Shiro sighed. "Fine. Keith and Lance, you go help Pidge check out the village. Hunk and I will stay here and keep an eye out for any Galra."

"Sweet!" Lance crowed as he launched his lion and headed for the planet. The red lion swooped up to join him. "Maybe we can get some more fire and ice action!"

"Only if we run into the Galra again. Which I hope we don't," said Keith.

"Oh, come on, we could just-" Lance was cut off by Pidge.

"Guys, I spotted something."

"What something?" asked Shiro.

"It's huge, dark, and it can fly."

"Are you still cloaked?"

"Yeah. I was just about to land when I spotted it. It's headed for the village."

"Lance, Keith, what's your ETA?"

"We'll be there in a couple more minutes," said Keith.

"Pidge, keep your distance for now, try to see if it's hostile. Lance and Keith, hang back and don't let it see you."

"We should have a code name for the two of us. Lance and Keith takes way too long to say."

"Not the time, Lance," said Shiro.

"I'm just saying, we get paired up a lot and it would speed up communication during a battle."

"Guys! Something just ran out of one of the huts. It looks like it's shooting at the creature. And- oh, dang it."

"What?"

Pidge sounded horrified. "I think it just ate whoever was shooting at it. It just swooped in, and now they're gone. No trace."

"Definitely counts as hostile," said Hunk.

"Okay, Pidge. Wait for Keith and Lance, then try to get between the creature and the village. Draw it away if you can. We don't know how many innocents might be in those buildings. Hunk and I will get there ASAP. Whatever this thing is, I doubt it can stand against Voltron."


	4. First Blows

Chapter Three

Lance felt excited, as he always did right before heading into a fight. It wasn't until the first blows that he would start to realize what he'd gotten himself into.

"We're here, Pidge. Where are you?" Keith asked as they got their first view of the creature.

Lance wasn't impressed. Yeah, it was big, but it just looked like a giant black blob, just hovering over the rocky formations that surrounded the village. But it had just swallowed somebody whole. It kind of reminded him of something that might be in an old B movie.

The green lion materialized in front of them. "Come on, let's get its attention."

"That's what I'm best at!" Lance crowed. He surged forward in his lion, leaving the two others to follow behind him. He thought he heard Keith sigh in exasperation, but decided to ignore it.

The blobby creature didn't move at first. Lance stopped for a moment, hovering over it. He noticed that the green and red lions were still behind him. "What do I do? Just . . . blast it?"

"I don't know! You're the one that went rushing in without a plan!" said Keith.

"Right, I forgot. That's usually your job," Lance shot back.

"You guys are idiots," Pidge said. She soared past Lance and sent a blast towards the creature.

"Hey!" said Lance. He sent his own blast and watched as the creature . . . did nothing. "Come on, that had to have hurt at least a little."

"Let's see how it likes this," said Keith. His lion roared and sent a blast of fire. It hit the creature right in the center, causing it to move upwards towards them. "Watch out!"

"No, duh." Lance tried to fly backwards, but some kind of tentacle came out from the creature and wrapped around one of Blue's legs. He tried to freeze it, but the tentacle dodged it, sending Blue flying through the air and slamming against the ground. Lance gritted his teeth. "Is that how you want to do this?"

The creature was now heading straight for Keith. Looking at it from this angle, Lance realized just how big it was. Forget building size, this thing was probably about the same size as the castle. Blue got to its feet and Lance sent a stream of ice at the creature. It hit, creating a grey ice patch. The creature stopped and flailed its tentacles, reaching for all three lions at once. Lance was able to dodge this time, freezing the tentacle that nearly got him. He smirked. "Take that, you creepy Grim Reaper octopus kraken thingy!"

Shiro's voice came over the comms. "We're almost there. What's going on?"

"We got this, Shiro!" said Lance. "The ice attack seems to be working." The creature had pulled back its tentacles and was now roiling around quietly below them. "Can't take the old Lance attack!"

"It's not dead," Keith said dryly. "I think it's just trying to figure out what to do."

"Well, it's just a matter of time before-"

The creature surged forward at an impossible speed, knocking the Blue Lion out of the sky. Lance yelped as Blue hit the ground for the second time in so many minutes. He couldn't see anything but the blue light coming from the control panel. Blue was completely covered by the dark mass of the creature.

"Ok, ok, don't panic, Blue. We'll just hit him with some ice and get out of here." He could feel his lion's distress in the back of his mind as Blue tried to thrash its way out and couldn't move at all. "Yeah, you're right. Ice might not help." He imagined trying to freeze their way out only to get stuck in the frozen flesh of the creature. "Guys, can you hear me?" All he could hear from his comms was static. "Come on, guys. I could really use some help!"

Lance winced as he heard creaking above him. He felt Blue's whimper as the creature put more pressure on them. The creature hadn't responded to regular energy blasts earlier, but that was their only option right now. Blue opened its mouth and blasted the creature at full power.

"Gah!" Lance cried out as the power was reflected right back at them, cracking the windshield. "Ok, bad idea." He gripped the controls, his mind racing as he tried to think of another solution. His breath started coming faster as Blue's panic mingled with his own. The crack on the windshield was spreading. Lance followed it with his eyes. He reached up and pushed the button to seal his visor, ready for the creature to break in and smother him along with his lion.

Then, suddenly the darkness was gone. He heard Hunk whoop as blasts of fire and energy sent the creature back. Lance let out a deep sigh of relief. "You guys are the best!"


	5. Interrogation

Chapter Four

Within seconds, the creature had disappeared into the maze of rock formations surrounding the village. Blue got to its feet. Lance ran his hands over the controls, knowing that if Blue could feel pain, it definitely was right now. But how do you comfort a robot lion?

"Are you all right, Lance?" Hunk asked, coming down to land next to him.

"I'm okay. Blue got pretty beat up, though."

"I'm sure Pidge and I can fix her once we get back to the castle."

The black lion joined them, closely followed by the red and green lions. "Before we go, we should try and evacuate the village," said Shiro. "We scared off that thing for now, but I doubt it'll be gone for long."

"You think it's safe to leave our lions?" asked Pidge.

"We don't really have a choice. Hunk and Lance, you stay here and keep watch. The rest of us will go to the village."

Lance thought about protesting about being left behind, but he didn't really want to leave Blue right now anyway. He watched as Shiro, Keith, and Pidge left their lions and headed towards the village.

"I can check out Blue for you while we're waiting," Hunk said. "Better safe than sorry, right?"

Lance smiled. Whenever Hunk got worried about someone he turned into a bit of a mother hen. Especially if that someone was a robot lion that he could probably fix with his eyes closed. "Right." Both lions knelt down to let their paladins out. Lance was surprised when Hunk ran towards him and gave him a big bear hug.

He patted Hunk on the back. "Relax, I'm fine."

Hunk stepped back. "Sorry. I just got a little freaked out when we got here and that thing was on top of you. After what Pidge said about that guy getting eaten, I thought the same thing had happened to you."

Lance laughed. "I guess that thing couldn't quite handle swallowing a whole lion." He patted Blue's nose. "I'd better keep watch while you do your mechanic thing."

"You'd better," Hunk said absently as he surveyed Blue, who was still sparking in a few places. "I really don't want that thing sneaking up on us."

Lance activated his bayard. "No problem. I've got the eyes of a hawk." 

* * *

The buildings were made of some kind of mud or adobe. Shiro supposed that made sense, given the rocky surroundings. He wondered what kind of people might live in them. Keith and Pidge followed right behind him, hands on their bayards in case of trouble. They'd removed their helmets in an attempt to look less threatening. Hopefully whoever was in there would recognize that they were there to help.

The door was made of metal. Where had they gotten metal from? Shiro knocked softly, listening for movement inside. He heard some whispering, and then the door opened just a crack.

"You are soldiers?" said male voice. Shiro couldn't see anything of the speaker beyond a dark brown scaly hand gripping the door tightly.

"Not exactly. But we're here to help. May we come in?"

"How do we know that you come in peace? Others have come only to rob us."

"I understand." Shiro thought for a moment. "Can you at least tell us what has happened here? We received a distress call from your planet a few hours ago."

There was a long pause. "You saw the monster?"

"Yes. We just barely fought it off."

The door opened a little bit more, allowing Shiro a glimpse of a reptilian face with yellow eyes. "You killed it?"

"No. I think we just scared it away."

"You must be quite powerful then. Who are you?"

"We are the paladins of Voltron. But we can't defeat this creature if we don't know what we're up against."

The reptilian man shuddered. "It is a thing out of nightmares. It has been attacking us for months, taking anyone that it could catch. But that is not the worst thing it can do."

"What do you mean?"

"It drains life from people without even touching them. We thought it was a disease at first. It killed the weakest of us within a couple weeks. They would complain of tiredness and just get weaker and weaker until they died. We eventually realized that they got worse only when the monster was near, and saw how it grew each time it came closer to the village."

Shiro looked back at Keith and Pidge, who were both looking on with a mix of concern and curiosity. "I'm sorry. That must have been horrifying."

"Can you help us?"

"For now, we can evacuate everyone from the village."

The man shook his head vigorously. "We cannot leave. Our ancestors, our entire way of life is here."

Shiro ran a hand through his hair. "It will be more difficult for us to defeat the creature if we have to protect the village as well."

"We cannot leave," the man said emphatically. "We would rather die here."

"All right." Shiro pursed his lips. "We will do what we can. Thank you for the information."

"May the sands guide you." Before Shiro could say anything else, the reptilian man closed the door.

"Not very helpful," Keith muttered as they walked away.

"He was taking a risk just talking to us," Shiro reminded him.

"And we're taking a risk just being here! That thing almost crushed Blue earlier."

"They don't know that," said Pidge. "All they know is that we're strangers who could easily take advantage of them. I wouldn't trust us either."

Shiro shook his head. "It doesn't matter. He told us everything he knew."

"Which still doesn't give us a way to defeat the thing," said Keith, folding his arms. "We were able to injure it, not kill it."

"But we haven't tried using Voltron yet," Pidge pointed out. "One swipe from your sword or Hunk's cannon might take it out easily."

"True," said Shiro as he put his helmet back on.

"Shiro?" It was Allura's voice over the comms.

"Yes?"

"Did you find out anything about the creature?"

"Only that it sucks energy from people to get bigger and presumably more powerful."

"Hmm," said Coran. "That explains some things."

"Like what?" Shiro asked.

"There's been a slight power drain on the castle ever since we reached orbit. Nothing too serious, but it could be if we stay too long."

Shiro frowned. "How can it affect the castle from this distance?"

"Balmeran crystals are known to be especially vulnerable to this kind of thing. That much power comes with a lot of vulnerabilities."

They could see the lions in the distance now. Lance was sitting on top of Blue, blaster out, while Hunk was doing something underneath. "Well, let's try to take care of this as quickly as possible," said Shiro. "The people here refuse to leave, so we'll need to draw the creature away and try to kill it."

"Please be careful," Allura said. 

* * *

Hunk had concluded that Blue wasn't too badly damaged. He'd be able to repair it completely when they got back to the castle, but for now she should be fine as long as Lance didn't do anything too crazy.

"Sweet!" said Lance, standing up as he saw the other paladins coming.

"No sign of the creature?" Shiro asked as they reached the lions.

"Not a thing. Too bad, I could have used some target practice."

"Is Blue up to forming Voltron?" Shiro asked Hunk.

"Yeah, I think so. The structural damage was pretty minimal."

"Good. Let's go."

 **Author's Note: And we're back to where we started! The next chapter will pick up where the prologue left off.**


	6. Blue

**Author's Note: I was going to wait to post this, but I just couldn't resist. Enjoy! The next chapter should be longer.**

Chapter Five

" _Which needs to land first, Blue or the castle?"_

" _Blue, definitely Blue. The castle has at least half-an-hours' worth of juice left."_

 _Lance felt his stomach do a flip as Blue suddenly dipped. He heard the other paladins grunt as they tried to compensate with their own lions. "Guys? What's the plan?" His own voice sounded weird to him, ringing oddly in his helmet. He blinked as his vision went blurry for a moment and then focused again. Blue groaned in his head, and suddenly they were falling. Distantly he heard the other paladins yelling, but their words were unintelligible, almost like he was underwater._

 _He vaguely felt a jolt as they hit the ground. Blue had gone silent, a sudden absence that he hadn't felt in months. "Blue . . . he muttered, and then slumped over in his seat, letting the exhaustion take him._

* * *

"Lance!" Shiro yelled. Voltron had hit the ground hard and fallen to one knee. Blue wasn't responding at all, and neither was her paladin.

"Shiro, the creature's coming!" said Pidge.

He looked up to see a dark blob slithering through the rocks towards them. He gritted his teeth. "We have to separate."

"What?" said Hunk. "You heard Coran! We're the only thing keeping Blue going."

"Blue's down. We can't beat this thing as Voltron when we're missing a lion."

"But Lance won't be able to defend himself."

"Then we'll just have to protect him," Shiro said firmly. The creature was getting closer. They didn't have time to argue. "Separate! Now!"

The lions burst apart. Blue fell to the ground and stayed there, eyes dark. "Ok. We'll flank it, attacking from both sides. Hunk, you'll stay with me. Keith and Pidge, take the right side."

"And what about Lance?" Shiro heard the frustration in Hunk's voice. He'd never really seen Hunk angry, but he knew he would if anything happened to Lance.

"Just don't let that thing near him."

* * *

Lance woke up feeling like his whole body was a pile of rocks. Big, heavy, rocks. He groaned and lifted his head, squinting to see what was going on. Everything was blurry, but he was pretty sure those sudden bright lights exploding outside were not a good sign. He'd been flying with Voltron, and then . . . he'd passed out? No, Blue had stopped working. And then he'd passed out.

Lance sat up with a jolt, wincing as dark spots appeared in his vision. "Blue?" he whispered. He couldn't feel his lion at all. "Blue!" The normally glowing control panel was dark. This couldn't, shouldn't be happening. Blue hadn't been damaged _this_ bad. Hunk had said it was fine!

Each breath felt a little shallower than the last. Lance took off his helmet and ran his fingers through his sweaty hair. Then he stopped and stared at his hands. Like everything else, they were blurry. But they were also glowing a bright blue.

He stopped breathing for a moment. But then the tiniest whisper in the back of his head told him what to do.

Lance stood up and placed his hands on the control panel. The blue glow from his hands grew, sending wisps of light streaming into the air around him. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.

Blue stood up and roared. Lance fell back into his seat, feeling empty.

* * *

Shiro knew they were losing. Nothing they did held the creature back for long. Even Keith's fire didn't seem to faze it anymore. It kept grabbing the lions with its tentacles and throwing them to the ground. So far it hadn't tried crushing them like it had with Lance earlier, but it was probably just a matter of time.

He heard a roar and thought one of the lions must have been tossed to the ground again.

"Lance!" Keith cried out. Shiro's eyes flicked over in the direction of the roar and saw the blue lion soaring towards them. He punched the air with his fist. Finally, just what they needed.

"Form Voltron, now!" he said, swerving to avoid another tentacle.

"Yeah!" Hunk said exultantly.

It only took a few seconds for the lions to come together. As Voltron, they towered over the dark creature. "Keith, use the sword!" Shiro said.

The creature rushed towards them in a dark mass, but Keith's sword appeared just in time to stab it. It fell back, tentacles writhing. Keith sheared several of them off with another swipe.

"Your turn, Hunk!"

Hunk's shoulder cannon formed on Voltron's shoulder, and one well-placed shot made the creature explode into thousands of shadowy pieces. Shiro grinned, listening to the other paladins as they celebrated their victory. Then he frowned. One normally very prominent voice was missing.


	7. All Wrong

Chapter Six

Shiro didn't order the other paladins to separate until they'd made it back to the castle, which had landed on a large plateau nearby. As soon as his lion landed, Shiro got out and quickly made his way to the blue lion's hangar. Lance hadn't said anything since the battle. He supposed it might be a problem with his comms, but a twisting feeling in his gut was saying it was something else.

Just as he suspected, Lance still hadn't left his lion when he got there. Hunk came running in soon after, closely followed by Pidge and Keith.

"Something's wrong. I _knew_ something was wrong," Hunk said, clenching his fists. Shiro walked up to the blue lion. The shield wasn't activated, thankfully, and the lion knelt down and let him in. He reached the cockpit and saw Lance slumped over in his chair. He looked unconscious, but when Shiro touched his arm he flinched.

"Lance? What's wrong?"

His eyes blinked open and he squinted up at Shiro. "I don't . . . I feel weird."

Shiro knelt down in front of him to look into his eyes. Hunk came around the chair and touched Lance's arm. "Did you hit your head or something?" he asked, nodding towards the helmet lying on the ground.

Lance shook his head. "No . . . it doesn't hurt."

"Do you mind if I check?" said Shiro. Lance shook his head again, so Shiro stood up and ran a hand through Lance's hair, checking for bumps. He didn't find anything and stepped back. "Why did you take your helmet off?"

Lance was silent for a moment, his eyes avoiding everyone's stares. "I don't remember. What happened?"

"Blue went down, but then you came swooping in halfway through the battle," said Hunk. "You probably saved us."

Shiro waited for some cocky reply, but there was nothing. Lance didn't even smile. He wasn't sure he'd even heard what Hunk said, since he was staring at the floor with unfocused eyes. "Do you think you can walk, Lance?"

"Maybe." His hands tightened on the armrests and he tried to lift himself up. He gritted his teeth as his arms started to shake.

Hunk slid an arm around his shoulder and helped him the rest of the way. "Don't worry. I've got you, buddy."

* * *

Coran and Allura were waiting for them in the infirmary. "Sit him down. Let's get his armor off," said Coran, going into nurse mode.

Lance didn't protest. His eyes were still open, but he didn't seem to be aware of what was going on. As Shiro and Hunk started pulling off his armor, he moved to make it easier, but it seemed to be more out of habit than anything else. Coran watched with a frown. "You said it wasn't a head injury?"

"I checked, but his head seemed fine."

"Hmm," Coran said, pulling a small penlight out of his pocket. "Can you look at me, Lance?" He did so, and Coran shone the light in his eyes. Lance flinched away from him, blinking but not saying anything. It was the silence that worried Shiro more than anything else. "His pupils are dilating normally, so probably no concussion."

"Then what's wrong with him?" asked Keith. He and Pidge were hanging back a little, obviously concerned but not wanting to get in the way. Hunk was sitting next to Lance, tensed as if he expected Lance to pass out at any moment..

"It's hard to tell. Lance, when did you start feeling off?"

Lance frowned. "We were flying, and Blue, there was something wrong . . ."

"Do you remember Blue going down?

"No." He put his face in his hands. "Nothing makes sense."

Hunk put a hand on his back. "Relax, we'll figure this out."

Allura stepped forward. "Whatever happened to Lance must be connected to the power drain in the blue lion."

"I could go check it out," Pidge offered. "I don't know why Blue going down would affect Lance, but maybe I could find some clues."

"That would be great," said Shiro. Pidge nodded and left. "Coran, do you think the healing pod could fix whatever's wrong with him?"

"I'm afraid not. In the first place, we don't have enough power left to run one. But even if we did, I don't know if it would work. They're great for physical injuries, but I think this is something deeper."

"What do you mean?" asked Hunk.

Coran sighed. "It could just be exhaustion, but it came on so fast." He laid a hand on Lance's shoulder. "Have you been sleeping all right, Lance?"

Lance answered without looking up. "Yeah, I think so."

Coran looked around at the others. "Did any of you notice Lance seeming more tired than usual?"

They all shook their heads. "I trained with him this morning. He was acting totally normal," said Keith. "He even beat me a couple of times."

Shiro glanced down at Lance. Normally there was no way he would let a comment like that go, especially when it came from Keith. "Do you think that creature could have drained his energy like it did with the people here? You said it was draining energy from the castle, and I assume it drained Blue's energy too."

"True," said Coran, stroking his moustache. "We could ask the people from the village how they treat this sort of thing."

"I don't think they do treat it," said Keith. "It sounded like they couldn't do anything but watch them die."

"What?" asked Hunk, wide-eyed. "You don't think-"

"No, he's not dying, not yet anyway," said Coran. "But we should get him off this planet, just in case."

"How long will it take the castle up and running again?" asked Shiro.

"A day, maybe less," Allura replied. "As long as the creature was the only thing here draining energy from it."

"This just sounds worse and worse." Hunk stood up. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"For now you can take Lance to his room. Hopefully he'll feel better after some sleep," said Coran.

Lance looked up. "Wait." He looked over at Allura. "My hands. They were blue. Like yours."

They all looked at Allura, who was looking just as confused as the rest of them. "Do you know what he's talking about?" Hunk asked.

Allura held her hands up. "My hands aren't blue."

"Not now," Lance said. Shiro noticed that he was breathing hard. "Before."

She frowned. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean."

Lance held up trembling hands. "That's how I saved Blue. My hands."

Allura's eyes suddenly widened. "No. That shouldn't be possible."

"Princess?" Coran asked.

Lance winced and put a hand to his head. "I . . . I can't . . ." He started gasping for breath. Shiro knelt down and grabbed his arm.

"Calm down. Just breathe. Don't try to talk."

Lance looked at him briefly, but then his eyes rolled back in his head and he fall back onto Hunk.

"Lance!" Hunk shook him.

"It's okay," Shiro said. He placed a hand on Lance's chest. "His breathing's getting better."

He looked up to see Princess Allura kneeling on Lance's other side. She placed a hand on his forehead and looked up at Coran. "It's his quintessence. He used it to fix his lion."

Coran's mouth dropped open. "He shouldn't be able to do that. None of the other blue paladins learned this quickly, and they were Alteans! You can't learn this kind of thing by accident!"

"Well, somehow Lance did. But he must have overdone it." Allura pursed her lips. "I can't heal him. I don't know how. Father was supposed to teach me, but . . ." Shiro pretended not to notice the tears in her eyes, remembering how devastated she'd been at losing Alfor only a few days ago.

"It's all right, Princess. Now we know what it is, we can help him. I'm sure he'll be fine."

Shiro had no idea what they were talking about, but as he helped Hunk take Lance to his room, he really hoped Coran was right.


	8. Hollow

Chapter Seven

Lance opened his eyes to the familiar sight of the glow-stars Hunk had put on his bedroom ceiling as a joke. He sat up and frowned. For some reason, he'd expected to wake up hurting, but he felt fine. Well, mostly fine. There was a nagging hollow feeling in his chest that he didn't like. And also the fact that the last thing he remembered was losing control of his lion and passing out. The last time he'd had a memory gap like this, it was because he'd almost died in an explosion. What had happened this time? He was in his own room, not in a healing pod. That had to be a good sign, right?

He got out of bed and his knees buckled, sending him to the floor. Okay, not a good sign. Lance sat up, rubbing his elbow, and tried to stand again, more slowly this time. He shuffled into the bathroom and splashed water on his face. Then he stared at himself in the mirror. It was his same old face, with no signs of injury. But the tired look in his eyes reminded him of his mother after a long day of work as she tried to wrangle him and his siblings into bed all by herself.

The hollow feeling in his chest expanded into a big pit of homesickness. He was so tired of this strange life full of unexpected attacks and near-constant danger. How could he ever feel safe here, when he was living in a castle that had tried to kill him and he kept waking up with missing memories? He wanted his family, his real family that knew him like no one on this team ever would. Even Hunk, who had been there for Lance during some of the hardest moments in his life, didn't know him like his mom did. His mom, who probably thought he was dead.

Lance slumped down to the bathroom floor and clutched his knees to his chest. He wanted to hear his mom's voice so badly. When was the last time he'd spoken to her? He vaguely remembered calling her on her birthday from the Garrison. But he couldn't remember the last thing he'd said to her. Had he told her he loved her? He didn't usually say things like that. He'd been the cocky pilot, just barely promoted to fighter class. Most of the call had probably been spent talking about him and how awesome he was.

He buried his head in his arms and sobbed, feeling hot tears slide down his arms and soak into his pajama pants.

"Lance?" He started and quickly rubbed the tears off his face. He hadn't heard  
Hunk come in. "Dude, are you okay?"

"Not really." Lance looked up and saw Hunk standing in the bathroom doorway.

"Sorry, I meant to be here when you woke up. But you'd been asleep for like twelve hours and Pidge asked me to help her with something. But I should have just stayed. You must have been really confused." Hunk took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. "So, how are you?"

Lance raised an eyebrow. "I kinda feel like crap. And yeah, I'm confused how I ended up in bed when the last thing I remember is flying in my lion."

A flicker of relief passed over Hunk's face, which Lance thought was odd considering the circumstances. "So you don't remember anything?"

"No. What happened?"

"Um, well, I'm not exactly sure. Allura said that you used your quintessence to save your lion. You were super out of it after." He looked at Lance's position on the bathroom floor. "Do you want to move somewhere more comfortable? You look kinda . . . cold down there."

Lance ran a hand over his face, knowing his eyes must still be red from crying. "Yeah, that would be good."

Hunk extended a hand, and he helped Lance over to his bed. "Are you hungry? I could go grab something from the kitchen."

"I don't really feel like eating goo right now." He didn't want yet another reminder that he was impossibly far from home.

"Do you feel sick?"

"No, I just . . ." Lance struggled to find the right words. "I need some space."

Hunk looked a little wounded. "Oh. Okay." He stood up to leave, but hesitated. "You sure you don't need anything?

"I just need a little time to straighten things out in my head." Lance gave a strained smile. "Thanks for checking on me, though."

Hunk smiled and left. Lance grabbed his blanket and curled up on his bed, letting the thoughts of home swim into his brain once more.

* * *

He didn't realize that he'd fallen asleep until somebody knocked on the door. Lance decided to pretend he was still asleep. He did not feel like dealing with anyone right now.

"Lance?" asked a feminine voice. It was Princess Allura. She had never, ever willingly talked to Lance one-on-one before, let alone visited him in his room. Lance sat up and looked down at himself in a panic. He was in his pajamas. Did that matter? Just to be safe, he leaned over and grabbed his bathrobe before answering.

"Come in!"

Allura opened the door. "I need to tell you a few things."

Lance raised an eyebrow but decided not to make the obvious comment. He really did want to know what she had to say, so offending her might not be the best idea. There would be plenty of time for flirting when he wasn't stuck in bed. "Okay."

"Do you mind if I sit down?" There were no chairs in the small room, so the only option was the end of his bed.

Lance pulled up his feet. "Sure."

Allura sat down and folded her arms, not looking directly at Lance. "I'm not really sure where to start."

He'd never seen Allura this hesitant before. "You're not here to tell me I'm dying, right?"

She looked at him sharply. "Do you feel like you're dying?"

"No, not really. I mean, I can't really walk without falling over but otherwise I feel pretty good."

"You don't have to pretend to be tough for me, Lance. I have some idea of what you must be going through."

Lance blinked. "What do you mean?"

She sighed. "All right. I'd better start from the beginning. Hunk told you what you did to fix the blue lion?"

"Sort of. He said I used quintessence. But I don't remember doing it."

"From what we've been able to figure out, the creature that you fought did something to the blue lion, allowing it to drain its energy. Without realizing it, you must have passed on your own energy to keep the blue lion going."

"Wait, how did I do that without realizing it?"

Allura shook her head. "We're not quite sure. There's a lot that happened that we still don't fully understand. But you did more than give Blue your physical energy. When that stopped working, you gave Blue some of your quintessence. Which is something only Alteans have ever been able to do before. And those Alteans have only been able to do so after an extensive training process."

Lance knew he should be really excited about this. Normally, he would be exulting at getting a cool new superpower. But right now he didn't want some weird power that he wasn't supposed to have. What he really wanted was to go home.

"Lance?" He realized that he was staring intently down at his hands where they were clenched in his blankets. "Tell me what you're thinking."

Lance bit his lip. "I'm just so tired of nothing making sense." An ache grew in the back of his throat and his eyes grew hot. But he really, really did not want to cry in front of Allura.

"I understand, Lance. I really do." She placed a hand on his arm. "Losing your quintessence hurts you in ways most people don't understand. After using my quintessence to heal the Balmera, I was emotionally compromised, so much that I was willing to believe that my father had come back to life and that he could take me back to Altea."

Lance's eyebrows came together. "So I'm emotionally compromised too?"

"You could be. It's like a physical injury, except it affects your emotions instead of your body. But I can't tell you exactly what to expect. Everyone's experience is a little different."

"But I will recover, right?"

Allura smiled. "Yes. It does get better, I promise."

"Hmm." He let out a long breath, trying to banish the tears that were still threatening. "So you know how to do this quintessence giving thing?"

"Somewhat. My father started to train me, in case I might need to pilot the blue lion one day."

"Wait, you were going to pilot the blue lion?"

"It was a possibility," Allura admitted. "The process for choosing paladins was quite different back then. One of the qualifications for the blue paladin was the ability to manipulate quintessence. Even among Alteans, it wasn't very common. So the fact that I had the ability automatically made me a candidate."

"But I couldn't do anything like that when Blue chose me."

Allura looked at him. "I thought that Blue had been unwilling to overlook it because you were human. But somehow, she must have known."

"Huh." Lance suddenly felt very tired. Allura must have seen it, because she stood up.

"I should let you rest. We can talk more about this when you're feeling better."

Lance nodded. He still felt hollow inside, but at least now he knew why.

Allura hesitated for a moment, and then said, "If you need someone to talk to, you can always come talk to me."

Lance smiled. He couldn't quite imagine himself coming to Allura for help. It wasn't that he thought she couldn't help, but she'd always intimidated him just a little bit. "Thanks."


	9. A New Threat

Chapter Eight

Pidge swore and threw down her screwdriver. She was in the workshop she shared with Hunk, working on what had once been her faithful drone, Rover. After it had saved her by taking down a Galra soldier, she had painstakingly gathered up its remains. During the last couple of weeks, she'd been using her spare moments to try and piece it back together, but no matter what she did, the drone remained stubbornly inert. She'd even asked Hunk to take a crack at it, but with no luck.

Hunk chose that moment to walk into the workshop carrying something that looked suspiciously like brownies. "Hey, Pidge," he said despondently. He set the brownies down on his work table and slumped down on a stool.

"What's eating you?" Pidge asked. "And are those brownies?" She adjusted her glasses and stood up to take a closer look. They sure smelled like brownies.

Hunk pushed the plate towards her and sighed. "Yes, they are brownies. Or space brownies, technically. I was finally able to find a good chocolate substitute in one of the storerooms. The consistency is a little off, but I think it tastes right."

Pidge picked one up. It was strangely goopy, but when she put it in her mouth there was a beautiful explosion of chocolate on her taste buds. "Mmm. This is amazing, Hunk. Just what I needed."

"Thanks," Hunk said. He picked up a tool from his desk and started fiddling with it.

Pidge raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

"I made the brownies for Lance, but he didn't want them. And I know he loves brownies. He used to eat a whole pan of his mom's brownies by himself in one sitting."

"Oh," Pidge said awkwardly. She wasn't very good at dealing with situations like this. "Allura said he'd probably act a little weird for the next couple days."

"He keeps saying he needs space. It's just so weird for him. Usually when Lance is upset about something, he'll tell me all about it. But he hasn't been talking to anyone."

"Give him some time," Pidge said. She didn't really understand what was going on with Lance, but it reminded her of how her mom had reacted after finding out what had happened to her dad and Matt. She'd stayed in her room for a couple of days, refusing to talk or eat anything. Pidge still felt guilty about that time, but she'd been dealing with it in her own way, trying to hack into anything and everything that might have more information about what had happened. This time, she didn't feel like she knew Lance well enough to be able to help.

"I know," Hunk said, looking at her. "I just want to do _something._ "

"I'm sure Lance appreciates it, even if he doesn't show it."

He let out a long breath. "Yeah, probably." He looked over at Pidge's table. "How's Rover coming along, by the way? Still no luck?"

"No, not really. I just don't get what's wrong." She moved back over to her table and poked at the dead drone. "I even asked Coran, but he doesn't know much about Galra tech either."

Hunk was about to say something when he looked over to the doorway. "Lance!" Pidge looked over to see Lance standing there, leaning on the wall for support. He wasn't nearly as pale as the last time she'd seen him, but there was a definite weariness in his expression that looked odd on his normally cheerful face.

"Hey, guys. Mind if I hang out here for a little bit? I promise I won't get in the way or anything."

"Sure!" Hunk said, going over to give him a hand, but Lance waved it off.

"I'm good. I thought I might just sit in the corner over here." He gestured towards a half-dismantled robot that sat on a dusty bench. "That guy looks like he could use some company."

"You don't have to sit in the corner. You can have my stool," said Hunk.

"Nah, I don't want to get in your way." Lance smiled weakly and sat down on the bench, leaning against the wall with a small sigh and closing his eyes. "I might just take a nap here, actually."

Hunk and Pidge exchanged glances, but neither commented. Pidge wasn't really sure what to do, so she picked up her screwdriver and started checking over Rover's wiring for the thousandth time.

A companionable silence had settled over the workshop, with both Hunk and Pidge absorbed in their work and Lance dozing in the corner, when Allura's voice came over the intercom.

"Hunk, Pidge, we need you in the control room."

Lance sat up. "I'm coming too."

Hunk looked at him critically. "Can you even walk that far?"

"I got here, didn't I?" He stood up and wobbled a little bit, catching himself on the wall.

"Right." Hunk said, sizing him up. "I could carry you," he offered.

"Um, no," Lance said. "That just sounds awkward."

"Come on, it'll be like old times," Hunk said with a grin.

Lance rolled his eyes. "I think I weighed about half what I do now the last time you carried me. We were what, nine? You probably couldn't even- erp!" He was cut off as Hunk grabbed him and threw him over his shoulder.

"We weren't nine, we were twelve. And you still weigh half as much as I do."

Pidge laughed, watching Lance struggle and eventually give up as they headed towards the control room. He cast a reproachful glance at her. "This really isn't fair."

She shrugged. "Hey, you wanted to come."

"Keith better not get there first," Lance muttered. "This just embarrassing. And really uncomfortable."

"Would you prefer going piggy-back?" said Hunk.

Lance groaned. "Let's just get there as fast as we can, please."

* * *

Allura merely raised an eyebrow when Hunk came in, toting Lance over his shoulder. Shiro smiled at the sight as he watched Lance bicker with Hunk until he finally set him down. Pidge was also watching with a grin. Keith, unfortunately for him but luckily for Lance's pride, missed the whole thing, coming in just after Lance finished straightening his clothes with a huff.

Shiro decided to start. Allura had already explained the situation to him while they waited for the other paladins to arrive. "We have a slight problem. Coran's managed to get most of the castle systems working again, but he thinks it will be at least a week before we have enough power to leave the planet."

"What's the rush?" Keith asked. "Are there more of those creepy creatures?"

"No, thankfully," said Allura. "Although this problem might be worse. We just picked up a Galra ship heading our way. According to Coran's calculations, we have forty-eight hours before it gets here."

"And those are my new and improved calculations," Coran added. "Much more accurate."

"Just one?" Hunk asked. "That shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Shiro folded his arms. "It's not just any Galra ship. We received transmissions that indicate it's a ship run by the druids. They appear to be coming here to check on an experiment."

"So that creature was the Galra's fault after all? Kinda figures," said Lance. "It seems like everything bad that happens out here is related to the Galra somehow." Shiro noticed that he was trying to surreptitiously lean on Hunk, obviously not quite strong enough yet to remain standing on his own but too embarrassed to sit down.

"But we can still take them, right?" said Hunk. "I mean, we've taken out plenty of Galra ships before."

"The druids have technology and abilities that we haven't seen yet," Shiro said grimly, trying to ignore the flashes of memory that were trying to short circuit his brain. "They're unpredictable, which will make them much harder to take out than your average Galra soldiers."

"And our shields are still down," said Coran. "I might be able to get them fixed in time, but they won't be able to take much damage."

"So what are our options?" asked Keith. "Can we form Voltron?"

"That's what we want to figure out," said Shiro. "Pidge, you looked over the blue lion. Is it still damaged?"

Pidge adjusted her glasses. "As far as I can tell, Blue's back to normal. Hunk and I repaired all the damage we could find, but we weren't able to figure out what caused the energy drain. We might have missed something."

"Hunk, what do you think?" Shiro asked.

He looked uncomfortable. "It looks like it should be fine, but I thought the same thing when I checked it out before the fight. And I obviously missed something then. I don't want to take the risk of Lance getting hurt again."

"I didn't get hurt," Lance interjected. "It just made me tired, that's all. I can deal with that. It's not like my life was in danger."

"You don't know that!" said Hunk, glaring at Lance.

Allura cleared her throat. "Actually, Lance is right. I don't think the energy drain could have killed him. Blue shut down completely before it could cause any permanent damage."

"That's really not comforting," Hunk said. "There's got to be something else we can do."

"I do have a plan," Allura admitted. "But I doubt you'll like it any better."


	10. Training

Chapter Nine

They had just under two days to prepare for the druid's arrival. Lance's first assignment had been to get some sleep, which he did after Hunk practically force-fed him some dinner. He woke up the next morning feeling almost back to normal. After giving himself a bright smile in the mirror, he put on his armor and headed for the training area.

As he expected, Keith was the only one there. He was busy beating up the gladiator robot with swipes of his sword. Lance waited for him to "kill" the robot, which he did within a minute.

"Hey, Keith," Lance said, walking in with his bayard in rifle form resting on his shoulder.

Keith nodded at him. "Nice to see you up."

Lance shrugged awkwardly. "Sure beats sitting around in my room all day." He still wasn't quite sure how to make small talk with Keith. "So. Mind if I join you?"

Keith shook his head. "Two player, level eight?"

Lance nodded. Last time they'd trained together, they'd beaten level ten. Keith was trying to be easy on him, and he wasn't going to make a fuss about it. Really, he was lucky Keith was letting him train at all. Hunk was probably going to throw a fit.

He took his position, ready to cover Keith's back. Three robots dropped down from the ceiling, and Keith immediately went on the offensive. Lance took a shot at the robot to his left, hitting it in the shoulder and throwing it back. The robot to his right came at him with its stick raised. Lance caught the blow on his shield and pushed it back far enough to shoot it. He missed just as the first robot he'd shot took a swipe at him, only to be decapitated by Keith's sword. Lance ducked over the last robot's swing and shot it in the knee. The robot fell over, allowing for an easy kill shot to the head.

"Nice!" Lance said, grinning at Keith. "That has to be some sort of record, right?"

Keith checked his watch. "Nah, we were a couple seconds short. Not bad, though."

Lance offered him a high five, which Keith returned with a small smile. "The others should be coming soon for anti-druid training, right?"

"Yeah. Shiro, Hunk, and Allura should be here soon. Pidge is stuck with Coran for a while, working on that cloaking thing for the castle."

As if on cue, Shiro walked in, closely followed by Allura. Both of them looked tired and stressed. Lance decided to lighten the mood a little. "You guys just missed Keith and I kicking some serious robot butt. It was like, slash, pow, pow, and they're all down!" He mimed shooting and slashing, adding in a spinning kick for good measure. "Kablam-o! Those druids don't stand a chance."

Allura looked critically at the downed robots. "I seriously doubt it's going to be that simple." She pressed a button and the robots fell through the floor. "Actually, Lance, I'd like to train you separately while Shiro briefs the others."

"Why?" Lance frowned. Was she still trying to go easy on him? He felt totally fine.

"Your new . . . abilities. I want to make sure you have at least a basic knowledge of them, since I suspect they'll come in handy on this mission."

"Right." He tried to cover his uneasiness with his best flirtatious grin. "Any excuse to be alone with you, Princess."

She gave him an acidic glance but didn't comment. Instead, she turned to Shiro. "Pidge said she'd come as soon as she was done helping Coran. Will you be all right beginning the training without me?"

Shiro nodded. "We'll be fine." Lance could tell he felt a little uncomfortable. It made sense, though. The druids must be a sore subject for him, since they'd been the ones to give him his robot arm and all.

* * *

Allura led Lance to a small room just off of the main training area. Like the other room, there was no furniture, just white walls and floor. Allura walked over to the far wall. Then she turned around and fixed Lance with a firm look. He tried not to squirm. Something about that look reminded him of his mom.

"All right, Lance. I need you to do your best to focus and take everything I say right now very seriously. Understand?"

Lance nodded. "Yeah. I mean, yes." He tried to give a reassuring smile.

Allura didn't seem convinced. "We don't have much time. And there's a lot that you need to know."

He was getting a little bit annoyed now. "I can handle it."

"Okay." Allura let out a deep breath. "The manipulation of quintessence is a rare and very powerful ability. Traditionally, the blue paladin wields this ability to protect his team and others from attacks that reach beyond the physical."

Lance frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Quintessence is more than a physical force. It is the energy that powers your soul. When channeled properly, it can be used to help or to harm the quintessence of others."

"So my job is to keep people from using it for harm?"

"Which is exactly what the druids have been doing." She looked away, worry lines appearing on her forehead. "They've been doing experiments on this planet for who knows how long. From what we can tell, they've been trying to find different ways to steal quintessence. The creature that we encountered was some sort of byproduct, possibly some mutated quintessence that escaped and gained a life of its own."

"Creepy," said Lance. "So what can I do to stop them?"

"You can't stop them. At least, not yet. They've spent millennia developing their abilities. You only have a few hours."

"Then why am I here?"

"For the plan to work, I need you to have a basic understanding of what quintessence is and how to sense it. That's something I can teach you quickly." She held up her hands. "What do you see?"

Lance cocked his head. "Your hands?"

"Nothing else?"

He squinted. "Um, no."

She lowered her hands. "Strange. When you were half-conscious, you said something about my hands being blue. Like yours."

"I don't remember saying that."

"You must have seen me using my quintessence at some point and only registered it sub-consciously."

"When did you use your quintessence?"

Allura looked thoughtful. "I don't do it very often. I used it to heal the Balmera, but the only time before that was . . ." Her voice trailed off and then her eyes met Lance's. "It must have been when you were dying. After the explosion."

"I don't remember that either."

Allura started to pace. "I wasn't sure what to do. You're not supposed to be able to heal physical injuries with quintessence, but at the time I wasn't sure what else to try. It didn't work, but you must have seen me."

"Yeah, but what good does that do? I don't remember any of this!" Lance crossed his arms. He wasn't sure if he was frustrated with Allura or himself, but this didn't seem to be going anywhere useful. Maybe he should have stayed to train with the others.

"You don't remember it consciously, but the memory is in there somewhere," Allura said calmly. "Some part of you understood what I had done. That part of you also found a way to use your quintessence to heal the blue lion."

"Great. Apparently I have some super-Lance inside me that only comes out when I'm half dead. That sounds incredibly useful."

"But it means that all you have to do is access that . . . super-Lance while fully conscious."

"Which I do how?"

Allura paused. "You could try meditation."

* * *

An hour and several meditation techniques later, they were back where they had started, with Allura holding out her hands and Lance staring at them. "Still nothing," he said, trying to ignore the cool-sounding combat noises coming from the other room.

He could tell Allura was getting fed up too. "Maybe you're just not concentrating hard enough," she said with a slight bite in her tone.

"I'm concentrating as hard as I can!" Lance stood up and began heading for the door. "I need a break." Before he could blink, Allura had thrown him against the wall, pinning him with an arm across the back of his neck.

"This is important, Lance!"

He struggled pointlessly. She was way stronger than she had any right to be. "I'm pretty sure beating me up is not going to help!" He hated the high-pitched whine that had entered his voice. "Let me go!"

"Not until you are willing to really try." Her voice was deadly serious.

"I have been trying. It's just not working! Maybe you made some mistake. Maybe I didn't actually heal the blue lion."

Allura was silent for a moment. "Maybe." She backed off, letting Lance slide to the floor. "Go join the others. I need to rethink our plan." She stalked out of the room, leaving Lance to pick himself up. He bit his lip. He'd done it again. Just like the Garrison, when he'd been given the chance to shine, he'd only made everything worse for himself and everyone involved. He hadn't deserved to be a fighter pilot then and apparently he didn't deserve to be the blue paladin now.

Instead of joining the others, Lance left the training area and went back to his room. They were probably better off without him.


	11. Guilt

Chapter Ten

Shiro found Allura in the control room, staring moodily at the projected stars. He'd been surprised and a little disappointed that she hadn't come to help with training. It would have been helpful since all he really knew of the druids were vague disturbing memories. He'd trained the other paladins to deal with mental and emotional manipulation using training he'd adapted slightly from the standard Garrison training. Keith had probably picked up on that, but he hadn't said anything.

"How'd your training with Lance go?" he asked, coming to stand next to Allura.

She sighed. "Not well. I'm afraid I lost my temper with him."

"Oh?"

"He seems to have convinced himself that he doesn't have the ability to manipulate quintessence. That he didn't really heal his lion. Which is making it impossible for him to learn how to do it on purpose." She folded her arms. "I tried to be patient, but there's so much riding on this that he doesn't seem to understand."

"He's just a kid," Shiro said. "A couple months ago he was just a reckless Garrison cadet whose only responsibility was trying not to fail his classes. Putting the fate of the entire universe on his shoulders was bound to have some negative effects."

"I know." Allura closed her eyes. "I fear I may have just made it worse."

"I'll go talk to him." Shiro put a hand on her shoulder. "And don't blame yourself. You have a lot riding on your shoulders too. But you don't have to do it alone."

She smiled. "Thank you, Shiro. I couldn't do this without you."

He nodded and left.

* * *

Lance was lying on his bed, trying to listen to his music and think about anything else besides how much of a failure he was. He wanted to just drown out the world, but the return of his normal energy was making it difficult for him to stay still. Part of him wanted to hide in his room while another part wanted to be anywhere else. He tapped the side of the bed along with the beat of the music and glared at the stars on his ceiling.

He thought he heard a knock at the door and pulled out his earbuds. "Yeah?" There was no response. Lance shrugged and was about to put his earbuds back in when he felt a shiver race along his spine. It felt like someone was watching him, but that was impossible. Unless there were hidden cameras or something . . . but why would there be hidden cameras? He shook his head. He was being ridiculous. No one wanted to sit around watching him sleep.

 _Blue paladin . . ._ Lance jumped. That was a voice. A creepy, scratchy kind of voice that belonged in a horror movie. And it was inside his head. It felt similar to the way the blue lion talked to him, except it was terrifying instead of comforting.

"Who's that?" he asked. "And what are you doing in my head?"

 _I am Haggar. And you are the weakest of the paladins._

* * *

 **Author's Note: I was going to make this a lot longer, but that just seemed like the perfect chapter ending. :) Sorry. I should be able to post the next chapter within the next couple of days though if that makes you feel better.**


	12. Assault by Memory

Chapter Eleven

Shiro was almost to Lance's room when he was suddenly hit with a crippling shock of fear. It catapulted him straight into a flashback.

* * *

 _He was chained to the wall. It was right after his first fight, and he was still sweaty and out of breath. A cut on his cheek was dripping blood down his face. He heard someone enter the room with soft footsteps and raised his head to see a tall thin figure in a cloak._

 _"This is the one who killed my Robeast?" the figure asked in a growling feminine voice._

 _"Yes, Mistress," replied one of the cloaked figures behind her. She came closer and Shiro saw that she had grayish blue skin, long gray hair and glowing yellow eyes that sent a shiver of fear down his spine. She reached out a clawed hand and grasped his chin, forcing him to look right into her eyes._

 _"You will make an excellent specimen. But first we must break you."_

 _Shiro clenched his jaw, trying not to show how terrified he was. He didn't trust his voice enough to speak._

 _She laughed. "I see that it won't be easy. I look forward to it."_

* * *

Shiro gasped as he wrenched himself out of the memory and into the present, where he was kneeling in the hallway with cold sweat on his forehead. His heart was pounding with the fear from the memory, but also from the realization that this flashback had come without a prompting. The other times the memories had always been triggered by something. Were they getting worse for some reason?

He placed a hand on the wall and stood up, taking deep breaths to calm himself. But his pulse went right back into overdrive when he heard a very familiar voice in his head.

 _Shiro. I am coming for you. This time you will not be so lucky._

* * *

Lance tried not to panic. It was just a voice in his head. It couldn't hurt him, right?

 _You will be the easiest to subdue. I will tear your mind apart and feast on its energy. The others will curse you for your weakness._

"Get out!" he yelled, curling into a ball on his bed and gripping his hair with both hands. "You're not really here!"

 _I don't need to be here to destroy you._ Lance was suddenly assaulted with a memory. He was cuffed to a tree, watching Nyma steal his lion. He'd messed up big time, again. Then he was treated to every single time his teachers at the Garrison had yelled at him for goofing off.

 _Always playing the fool._ Lance felt himself slipping into another memory.

* * *

 _He was in his kitchen at home, leaning against the counter. His mom was looking at him but not saying anything._

 _"I know it was stupid. I'm sorry. I was just, well . . ."_

 _"You were trying to impress a girl."_

 _Lance hung his head. "Yeah."_

 _His mom sighed. "You nearly got both you and Hunk killed. I can't just let this go."_

 _He met her eyes. "But Dad said . . ."_

 _"I know what your father said. But he doesn't know how many times you've gotten into stuff like this."_

 _"I won't do it again, I promise."_

 _She just looked at him for a few moments. "We both know that's not true."_

 _"But I'm headed to the Garrison next week! How much trouble can I get into there?"_

 _She shook her head. "There's no way I'm sending you to the Garrison when I can't even trust you to drive my car."_

 _"Mom! You can't do that! I've been waiting for years to be old enough!"_

 _"I'm sorry, Lance. You're not ready yet."_

* * *

Lance blinked and he was back on his bed. His mom had had several similar conversations with him. But she'd been so proud of him when he'd gone a whole year without any serious screw-ups, enough to let him go to the Garrison after all.

 _She was always disappointed in you._

"No, she wasn't!"

 _How do you think she felt when she found out that you'd left the Garrison without warning, deserting your family and all your responsibilities? I doubt she was very surprised. She was probably glad to be rid of such a troublesome son._

Lance clung to his memories of his mother hugging him, laughing with him, and smiling at him. But he felt Haggar chipping away at those memories, replacing them with every time his mom had looked at him with sadness and disappointment.

 _And now you've disappointed your team. The only family you have left._ Lance knew that was true. He couldn't protect them like he was supposed to. Haggar laughed. _You are useless compared to the others. You are not truly the blue paladin. Your lion chose you out of desperation, nothing else. You are weak._

"No," Lance murmured. He knew that wasn't true. He and his lion were connected in a way that went beyond anything he'd ever experienced. He reached out, trying to feel Blue's presence. It wasn't there. He stopped breathing for a moment.

 _It was easy to sever your connection. Your lion will soon be nothing more than a tool for the Galra._

Lance yelled, bashing his fist against the wall. The pain brought him back to reality. Haggar was trying to manipulate him. He tried to connect with his lion again, and this time he felt a flicker of something. The druid was blocking him off from his lion somehow, but not completely. He jumped out of bed and rushed out of his room, only to run into Shiro, who was leaning against the wall, looking disoriented.

"Shiro!" Lance grabbed at the wall to keep from falling over. "Is the druid talking to you too?"

Shiro blinked at him. "I . . . yes." He didn't elaborate.

"She's trying to cut me off from my lion!" Lance blurted out. "I have to go." He ran down the hallway, stopping only when he reached his lion's hangar and saw that Blue's shields were up. When he touched them, a surge of energy knocked him back.

"Blue, it's me. It's Lance." The blue lion stared at him with its yellow eyes. "I'm your paladin. Let me in!" He reached out for the shield again, this time simply laying his hand on it. He wasn't knocked back, which he supposed was an improvement. "Please. I healed you, remember?" He pushed down the sliver of doubt that crept up in his mind. The lion kept staring at him, as if daring him to prove it.

Lance took a deep breath and concentrated on his hand. He felt a tingling sensation and watched, wide-eyed, as his hand started glowing blue. There was a happy purr in the back of his head and Blue's shields dropped.

Lance grinned. "Sweet! Take that, you stupid druid!" He ran up to his lion and put his glowing hand on its nose. "I love you, too, Blue."

The purr was replaced with a feeling of urgency. Lance looked up into his lion's eyes. "What is it?" The others. Blue was worried about the others. He nodded. "Yeah, okay. I'll go check to make sure everyone else is all right. But I'll be back, I promise!" He took off running again, back to where he'd seen Shiro. He wasn't going to fail his team this time.


	13. Saving the Team

Chapter Twelve

Lance found Shiro slumped against the wall with his eyes closed. Was he too late? He gently shook Shiro's shoulder.

"Shiro? Are you okay?"

Shiro opened his eyes, but they seemed unfocused, looking at something over Lance's shoulder. "Matt . . . don't let them take you."

Lance's concern spiked. "No, it's Lance. Remember?"

Shiro didn't respond, and Lance bit his lip. What the heck was he supposed to do? Just then, he felt something pointy against his back.

"Don't move." It was Keith's voice, but it was colder and more furious than Lance had ever heard before. He quickly realized that the pointy thing must be Keith's sword, and resisted the urge to put his hands up.

"Dude, what are you doing? It's Lance."

"I don't know who you are, but you'd better back away from my friend right now." He removed his sword, and Lance carefully stood up and backed away from Shiro. Keith kept his sword inches away from Lance's chest as he did so. He glared at Lance with pure hate.

"Okay, I don't know what's going on with you, but I'm not your enemy. I'm your friend." Lance decided to leave out the fact that he'd considered them more rivals than friends until recently.

"I only have one friend, and he's over there." Keith gestured towards Shiro. "I don't make friends with your kind."

"My kind?" Lance was vaguely insulted, even though he knew Keith wasn't in his right mind at the moment. "I never took you for a racist."

"You know what I mean!" Keith snarled, moving his sword a little closer to Lance's heart. "You're a killer."

Lance blinked. This was so way beyond what he was prepared to deal with. "I think you have me confused with someone else."

"You're one of Kaden's guys, aren't you? Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about. Honestly." Lance tried backing farther down the hallway, but Keith moved to keep up with him. "Look around. You're in the castle of lions. You're a paladin of Voltron, remember?"

"Is that some kind of weird gang code? Because I told you, I've never been in any of the gangs and I don't plan to."

Lance sighed. This was getting him nowhere. Literally. Keith had just backed him up against a wall. "Okay, if you don't remember being a paladin, where'd you get that sword?"

Keith frowned, looking at the sword. Lance took advantage of the distraction to dive to the floor and then tackle Keith around the knees. They both fell to the floor and Lance heard the clang of Keith's sword as it fell out of his hand. He tried to grab it, but it turned back into a harmless bayard the moment he touched it. "Dang it," he muttered.

A moment later, Keith was on top of him, wrestling the bayard out of his grip. Lance let go and it turned back into a sword. Keith held it to his throat. "I could kill you right now. But I won't, because that's not my style."

"Could've fooled me." Lance took a deep breath. "Look. I don't want to hurt you or Shiro. Someone's been messing with your heads, and we need to find a way to fix it."

"I think you should be a little more worried about your own head right now."

Lance went a little cross-eyed as he looked down at the sword. "You just said you didn't want to kill me. I'm getting some serious mixed messages here."

Keith leaned in a little closer. "I don't want to kill you, but I need to do something that will send a message to your boss to leave me alone for good. Any suggestions?"

Lance did not like where this was going. He heard a little growl in the back of his mind. Blue was trying to tell him something. _I'm a little busy right now_ , he thought back. But his lion was being quite insistent. He looked down at his right hand and saw a little flicker of blue. He concentrated on it and his whole hand started glowing with wisps of blue light. Blue wanted him to do something with that, but what?

"Well?" Keith said.

Lance looked up at him. "Please don't kill me for this." Then he reached up and touched Keith's forehead with his glowing hand. The moment Lance made contact, he felt a brief flood of feelings that weren't his. Anger, lots of anger, and loneliness. Keith's eyes widened and he moved back, his bayard deactivating as he did so. Lance sighed in relief and sat up.

"Lance? What the heck just happened?"

Lance tried to act casual, as if he was used to people holding a sword to his throat. "Oh, some creepy druid lady took over your mind and I stopped her with a blast of Lance magic. No big deal."

Keith stared at him. "I almost killed you."

Lance shrugged. "Like I said, no big deal." He stood up and walked back to Shiro, who was still in the same position. The glowy hand thing had worked for Keith, so maybe it would work for him too. He concentrated on his hand again, but it wasn't glowing anymore. _Blue?_ he asked silently. _A little help?_ His lion purred back at him and soon his hand was glowing again.

"What are you doing?" Keith asked behind him.

"Shh. This isn't as easy as it looks." Lance put his hand on Shiro's forehead. This time he felt an overwhelming sadnessand frustration. Shiro opened his eyes and looked at him. Lance took his hand away.

"Sorry," he said self-consciously. "You back with us, Shiro?"

Shiro smiled at him. "Yeah. Thanks, Lance." He stood up, brushing himself off. "What happened?"

"Haggar happened," said Lance. He looked over at Keith. "Somehow she made you think I was Matt and made Keith think I was some gang member. Really not cool."

"Have you checked on the others?" Shiro asked.

"No, not yet." Lance looked back at Keith. "Could you come with me? I doubt Hunk or Pidge will be as violent as you, but it would be nice to have some back-up, just in case."

Keith nodded. "Yeah, no problem."

"And I'll go see if Coran and Allura were affected," said Shiro.

"Just . . . be careful, okay?" Lance said. He shuddered a little, thinking about how close Keith had come to killing him or at least seriously maiming him.

Shiro nodded and they headed their separate directions.

* * *

Pidge and Hunk weren't in their workroom. Lance and Keith moved quickly to check their bedrooms, but they weren't there either. Lance remembered how Haggar had threatened to cut him off from his lion. Maybe she'd tried the same thing on the other paladins?

"Let's check the lion hangars," he told Keith. They checked the yellow lion's first since it was closer, but Hunk wasn't there either. As they got closer to the green lion's hangar Lance heard sobbing. He broke into a run and stopped when he got to the doorway. The green lion's shield was activated and Hunk was holding a crying Pidge.

"I've got to save them," Lance heard her say. "She's going to kill them!"

Hunk patted her on the back awkwardly. He looked surprisingly normal, if a bit bewildered. He looked over to see Lance and Keith.

"Hey, guys. I don't know what happened. Pidge suddenly started hearing this weird voice in her head and then she bolted for her lion. When she couldn't reach it she freaked out a little."

Pidge pushed him away. "Freaked out! Of course I'm freaking out! My dad and my brother are about to be killed and there's nothing I can do about it!"

Lance and Keith exchanged glances. Lance stepped forward. "It's okay, Pidge. Haggar's been messing with everybody's heads. I can fix it."

Pidge backed away from him. "You can't fix this. I have to go save them."

Lance held up his hand and made it glow. It was getting a little easier each time. "She's lying to you. Let me help.

"What are you doing?" Pidge pushed his hand away. "Is this some kind of messed-up joke?"

"It's okay, Pidge," said Keith. "He knows what he's doing."

Lance tried to smile reassuringly. Pidge didn't look convinced. He edged a little closer. "I'm just going to touch your forehead. It won't hurt or anything."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" she said, eyeing his hand. But she didn't do anything to stop him. When he made contact, she closed her eyes and he felt a rush of grief and shame. Lance quickly removed his hand, a little scared of what might happen if he didn't. Pidge opened her eyes and smiled at him.

"Thanks." She reached out and touched her lion's shield, which automatically dropped. She let out a breath of relief, then looked back at the other paladins. "Why didn't Hunk hear Haggar's voice too?"

They all looked at Hunk, who shuffled nervously. "You didn't hear her at all?" Lance asked. He shook his head. "No, did you?"

"Shiro, Keith and I all did. I guess you're immune or something."

Hunk shrugged. "I guess."

They all looked up as Shiro's voice came over the intercom. "I need everybody up here right now! We have a serious problem."

"Like we didn't already," muttered Pidge as they all took off at a run for the control room.


	14. Into the Crystal

Chapter Thirteen

Lance had expected something really bad, like maybe Allura and Coran had gotten into a Haggar-induced fight and hurt each other. A small part of him (or maybe not such a small part) was hoping that Allura would be either injured or distraught so he could arrive in time to be her comforting (not to mention dashingly handsome) savior. But she seemed to be fine, if rather stressed. Both she and Coran were examining the crystal while Shiro stood to the side with his arms folded. He turned when the other paladins entered the room.

"Good, you made it. Something's wrong with the crystal."

Pidge adjusted her glasses nervously. "What kind of something wrong?"

Allura looked over at them. "Haggar's done something to corrupt it."

"So the castle's going to go crazy again?" Lance asked. He'd had enough crazy for one day.

"I don't think so," said Allura, looking back at the crystal. "Judging by what Shiro told me, she's been using it to amplify her own abilities to mess with our heads."

"But Lance already fixed that," Hunk pointed out. "At least, I think he did."

"It was just a temporary fix. Lance was able to use his quintessence to block her power, but as she gains a greater hold over the crystal she will become more powerful. Soon she'll be able to get through again."

"So what do we do?" said Keith.

Allura pursed her lips and glanced over at Coran. "We need to cleanse the crystal. That will both remove Haggar's influence and hopefully give us enough power to leave this planet before the druid ship arrives."

"I thought we were going to fight the druids," Lance said, a little disappointed. Now that he'd finally figured out his new powers, he'd been hoping to use them against the druids in person.

"Before we were relying on the element of surprise. Without that, we won't stand a chance. We're not prepared for that yet."

"But how will you cleanse the crystal?" asked Coran, frowning. "It normally takes four Altean elders to do that properly."

"Lance and I can do it, as long as Haggar's hold hasn't grown too great," said Allura.

"That's still only two people, and two mostly untrained people at that." Coran folded his arms. "It's too dangerous."

Allura locked eyes with him. "Do you see another option?"

Coran sighed. "Does Lance get a say in this? He'll be in just as much danger as you."

Lance grinned. "Danger's my middle name."

* * *

"Okay, Lance. We don't have much time, so I'll explain this as quickly as I can."

Lance nodded. Allura had asked him to stand on the opposite side of the crystal from her, with Hunk standing just behind him. Hunk raised a hand.

"Um, Princess? What exactly do you need me for?"

Allura smiled at him. "Hunk, as the yellow paladin, you should be able to act as Lance's anchor. This means that you will help him stay connected with the real world as he navigates the quintessence of the crystal."

Hunk frowned. "How do I do that?"

Allura turned to Coran. "Will you show him?"

Coran smoothed his moustache. "It is relatively simple. And when I say relatively, I mean you don't actually have to do much at all." He wiggled his fingers. "As long as you maintain physical contact, your quintessence should naturally latch onto Lance's, keeping him stable." He placed a hand on Allura's shoulder, and Lance's eyes widened as he saw a flash of yellow burst from Coran's fingers at the contact. "I'll be the princess's anchor."

"Okay." Hunk placed his hand on Lance's shoulder. "Is that it?"

"It could become a little more complicated," Coran admitted. "You know, if something goes wrong."

"Which will not happen." Allura cut in. "Hunk, if you feel Lance pulling away from you, just hold on. That's all you have to do."

Lance looked back at Hunk, who still looked unsure. He patted the hand on his shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry so much."

"Of course I'm worried! That's what I do!"

"Exactly. You do all the worrying for both of us. Makes my job a lot easier." He turned back to Allura. "So what is my job?"

"We'll both put our hands on the crystal and call up our quintessence. You figured out how to do that, correct?"

Lance nodded. "Piece of cake."

"The quintessence of the crystal will then pull us in mentally. It will be extremely disorienting at first, but just focus on Hunk's hand and you should be fine. Then you follow my lead to find Haggar's link to the crystal and destroy it."

"What do we have to do to destroy it?"

"We'll need to counter Haggar's quintessence with our own." Allura paused. "I don't know exactly how to do that, but I suspect it will be fairly self-explanatory when we reach that point."

"That's really not very comforting," Hunk muttered.

Lance ignored him. "All right, I'll follow your lead. I can do that." He pushed back the doubt that was creeping up in his mind. He had Hunk, Allura and even Blue to help him. It was going to be fine, just like all the other adventures they'd had. Heck, he'd basically gotten blown up once and came out of it just fine.

The other paladins were standing to the side, not wanting to interrupt anything important. Lance glanced over at them. "Come on, guys. You look like you're at a funeral. You should figure out a team cheer or something. Or just a simple 'Go Lance go!' would be great." The other paladins exchanged glances but remained silent. Lance rolled his eyes. "That works too, I guess."

"Lance," said Allura. He looked over at her. "I'll count to three, and then we'll both put our hands on the crystal. Got it?"

He nodded and held his hand up. When she finished counting, he put his hand on the cold smooth surface of the crystal. Almost immediately, blue wisps rose from his hand like smoke. He'd barely even had to think about it this time. Then, suddenly he felt a mental jerk and he was surrounded by streaks of color that coiled and shifted like fog. He looked over his shoulder and couldn't see Hunk. But then he realized that he could still feel Hunk's large hand on his shoulder. That instantly made him feel a little better.

"Allura?" he called out. No one answered. Shouldn't she be here too? He couldn't exactly follow her lead if he couldn't hear her or see her. Lance felt the stirrings of panic. He would be able to get out without her, right? He tried to take a step forward, but there was nothing to step on. Lance stumbled and fell, closing his eyes. In that moment, he felt something shift. When he opened his eyes he was in the control room, but it was different. Everything was shrouded in thick smoke, and he was lying on the floor. He looked over and saw Coran lying nearby, apparently unconscious. What was going on?

Lance tried to sit up and was hit by a wave of dizziness and sharp pains all over his body. This was all strangely familiar. He looked back into the room and saw through the smoke that the crystal was missing. Then he realized that none of this was real. At least, not anymore. He was in a memory. A memory that he'd lost. The crystal must be showing him this, or was it Haggar, like the other memories? This one seemed more real than anything Haggar had shown him.

He could even feel the smoke burning his lungs. It made him cough, which did not feel good. Lance raised his hand to cover his mouth and pulled it away to see specks of blood. Hmm. So he had actually been dying that day. He'd always wondered if the other paladins had exaggerated the story just to make everything sound more cool.

Now that he knew this was all a memory, it was easier to stay calm. If he just waited until everybody came and found him and Coran, he'd either get to watch everything that had happened while he was unconscious or maybe he'd just get pulled out of the memory. Which would be nice, because this really was quite painful. Maybe it was a good thing that he'd forgotten all of this.

Lance was about to lie back down when he spotted something in the smoke. Streaks of color, just like he'd seen in the crystal. He gritted his teeth and slowly stood up to get a better look. The colors swirled around him and he felt a slight pull, like they were trying to get him to come closer. Lance took a few steps, but then his knees buckled and he fell to the ground. The pain overcame the insistent pull of the colors and he felt himself go limp. Just before everything went black, he saw a streak of blue pull itself out of the mass and come straight for him.

The next thing Lance knew, Allura was standing in front of him, waving a hand in front of his face. "Lance? Can you hear me?"

Lance blinked. "Um, yeah, sorry."

"Follow me," the princess said, striding off through the colorful fog. Lance hesitated for a moment, remembering what had happened before, but then followed her. This time he walked forward without any problems. Why had the crystal, if it was the crystal, showed him that memory?

 **Author's Note: This was the bit of the show that originally spawned this story. That scene after the explosion always bothered me, because we clearly see Lance falling _towards_ Coran when the explosion happens. Yet when everyone else shows up, Lance is a few feet away from Coran, lying in the _opposite direction_** **as if he fell towards the explosion**. **Coincidence? Maybe. But it is fun to play with.**


	15. Janitor

Chapter Fourteen

"So, Coran, you've done this kind of thing before, right?" Hunk asked. He kept his eyes on Lance, who hadn't moved in nearly five minutes. It was unnerving to know that his mind was somewhere else even though his body was right here.

"Not exactly like this, no. But I trained for situations like this when I was not much older than you."

"Great." Hunk's arm was starting to get a little sore from holding it on Lance's shoulder for so long. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"You holding up all right, Hunk?" Hunk looked over and saw Shiro, who'd walked over to stand next to him.

Hunk shrugged. "Yeah. I just wish I knew what was going on."

"That would be nice," Shiro agreed. He looked calm, but Hunk knew that he must be worried too. He was just a lot better at faking it.

Hunk felt Lance tense suddenly, and he tightened his grip on his shoulder. "I'm right here, buddy. You're not going anywhere."

* * *

Lance followed Allura through the swirling colors and quickly lost track of time. It was impossible to tell how far they'd walked or how long they'd been there.

Allura stopped just in front of him. "There it is."

Lance squinted through the fog. "What?" He didn't see anything.

"You're not looking properly." She pointed straight ahead. "Try again."

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then opened them again. Sure enough, just ahead of them was a dark blob that reminded him uncomfortably of the creature they'd fought against. This one was much smaller, though, only about the size of a watermelon. "Doesn't look too scary," he said.

"Don't underestimate it." Allura held out a hand in front of her. Lance watched, wide-eyed, as blue quintessence flowed out from her hand, forming a slightly transparent, glowing blue sword.

"Awesome! Can I do that, too?"

Allura snorted. "It took me years of training to learn how to do this."

"You keep telling me stuff like that, and I keep proving you wrong," Lance said obstinately. "Besides, how am I supposed to fight that thing if I don't have a weapon?"

"I don't need you to fight it. I just need your help to cleanse the crystal once I sever Haggar's link. I'm perfectly capable of doing that on my own."

"Oh." Lance frowned. "So I'm just the janitor now?"

Allura shrugged. "Just stay back."

Lance reluctantly complied, watching as she advanced on the dark blob with her sword in front. She jabbed at the thing, but it dodged her blow and then wrapped itself around the sword. Allura tried to shake it off, but it just threw out little tentacles that coiled around her hand.

"You sure you don't want my help?" Lance called out.

"I'm fine!" Allura yelled back. The sword dissolved, sending the creature flopping down. Allura stepped on it and reformed the sword in her other hand, stabbing the dark blob and pinning it to the ground.

Lance was a little bit disappointed. "Is that it?" He walked over and nudged the thing with his shoe. It looked dead. He sensed something and looked up to see another dark blob heading for them. This one, however, was as big as a house. Big enough to swallow both of them whole.

Lance gulped. Allura looked up and her eyes widened. Neither of them had time to do anything before they were enveloped in suffocating darkness.


	16. Darkness

Chapter Fifteen

Lance hoped that Allura hadn't heard him scream. The darkness was cold, and it rested on his skin with a slimy pressure. He kept his mouth closed, and soon his lungs started to burn. Then he realized that he wasn't actually there. How could he suffocate if his body wasn't actually inside the crystal?

The moment Lance thought that, he felt the warm pressure of Hunk's hand on his shoulder and took in a deep breath. The breath came easily, despite the fact that all his senses were telling him that he was drowning in black goo.

 _This isn't real, this isn't real, this isn't real . . ._ he kept repeating to himself as he focused on breathing. He tried moving then. It was difficult, but not much more difficult than trying to walk through water.

"Allura?" he called out. The sound just bounced back at him, and he had to push down his panic again. The princess had to be around here somewhere. Lance waved his arms, hoping he might just run into her by chance.

Maybe he could figure out a way to do that sword thing and then cut his way out. He concentrated on his hands, imagining them glowing with blue quintessence. He still couldn't see anything, but he could feel a tingling in his hands that was hopefully not just his imagination.

He tried to picture the sword that Allura had conjured, but that didn't seem quite right, somehow. Instead, he focused on the familiar feel of his bayard, and soon he felt the smooth trigger of his rifle pressing into his right hand.

Lance brought the weapon up and fired into the darkness. He still couldn't see anything, but he felt a rumble as the darkness shifted around him. He fired again, and the pressure on his skin retreated. Lance looked down to see his rifle glowing a deep blue in his hands.

"That's pretty sweet!" he said. The sound still echoed strangely, like he was in some kind of bubble. He reached forward and felt the blackness in front of him. Sure enough, his hand met a dark viscous goo just a foot or so in front of him. He raised his rifle again and shot at it. The blast illuminated a new hole in the darkness in front of him, reflecting against the goo. Lance shrugged and stepped forward, firing again as he did so to create a path. At least he was moving somewhere now.

* * *

Five minutes later, Lance stopped. He was still moving through darkness, illuminated only by the glowing blue of his rifle. There was no sign of Allura or an end to the darkness. Maybe he was just moving around in circles?

Lance froze as an all-too-familiar scratchy voice sounded in his head. _You are mine now, blue paladin._

He spun around, looking for a source for the noise. But nothing had changed. "Get out of my head, Haggar! I threw you out once, I can throw you out again."

She laughed. Lance tightened his grip on his weapon. _You wandered straight into my trap. Your little tricks will not last long here._ As if on cue, Lance's rifle dissolved into nothingness, leaving him in complete darkness once again. He concentrated, trying to get it to come back, but it was no use.

 _Your quintessence belongs to me now. Give up, and I will make this quick._

Lance gritted his teeth, focusing on Hunk's hand. It was gripping him so hard now that it almost hurt. He reached out to Blue, hoping for some nudge in the right direction. He felt the lion's concern, but it was so faint he thought he might have imagined it.

 _Very well. I will enjoy this._ Lance felt the dark goo envelop him once more, but this time it burned where it touched his bare skin. His face and hands were on fire, and he wished desperately that he'd taken the time to put on his armor as he felt the goo start to move up his sleeves and pant legs, and down the collar of his shirt. He tried frantically to brush it away, but it just kept moving.

"Leave him alone, Haggar!" Lance couldn't see anything, but he clearly heard Allura's voice. He saw the slash of a blue sword and then Allura was right in front of him, pulling at the goo that was covering his face.

Lance gasped for breath as she uncovered his mouth. "Thanks, Allura. I thought she had me there."

"Remember, she's just messing with your head." Allura was about to say something else, but she suddenly gasped and fell to the ground, clutching her head. Her sword fell to the ground silently, letting off just enough light so that Lance could see the pain on Allura's face.

He scrambled over to her. "What's wrong now?"

Allura groaned. "It's Haggar." She pushed herself into a sitting position with one hand still on her head. "Her influence is stronger than I thought."

"What do we do?"

"We need to cleanse the crystal now, before she can get any stronger. It's our only chance."

"What happens if we can't?" Lance looked down at his goo-covered hands. They still burned, even though the goo had stopped moving up his sleeves. He didn't even want to know what his face looked like. Hopefully the damage wasn't permanent.

"She'll steal both of our quintessences and then move onto the rest of the team. When the druids get here, they'll be able to take Voltron without any resistance."

"So that's not an option, then."

"No." Allura got to her feet. "Grab my hands. We need to project our quintessences as strongly as possible. If we reach the unaffected part of the crystal, we might be able to overcome Haggar."

Lance did as he was told, grasping Allura's hands. She didn't seem bothered by the goo.

"Now, take a deep breath and concentrate on your quintessence." He did so, and soon blue wisps of light rose from their hands, lighting up the darkness. "Close your eyes and let me direct it." He did, simply enjoying the feel of Allura's hands in his. He'd have to find a way to tease her about this later, when they weren't about to die.

He could see the light growing brighter through his eyelids. "Is it working?" he asked.

"Shh," said Allura. "I think I've almost made it through to the unaffected part of the crystal."

Lance felt a little uneasy without really knowing why. Maybe it was because the crystal had been messing with his head just like Haggar had. At least, that's what he thought had been happening.

"Got it!" Allura said. The blue light flared even brighter and Lance felt a new power surround them. He opened his eyes to see a flood of glowing colors surrounded them as the darkness shrank back. He smiled and was about to say something when a sudden pressure pushed him away from Allura.

"Hey!" he said. The colors surrounded him, forcing him to stumble back a couple more steps. "What's happening?"

He saw Allura shake her head and reach out to him, but a deep, rumbling voice drowned out whatever she tried to say.

 _WHO ARE YOU_ , said the voice.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Sorry my updates have slowed down. The good news is that there's only a couple chapters left now, and I've already written most of them. They just need some serious editing and wrapping up of loose ends. Hopefully I can finish them within the next few days and get them posted.**


	17. Who Are You

Chapter Sixteen

Lance felt his knees give way and he fell to the ground. Something about that voice told him it wasn't human, not even Galra.

 _WHO ARE YOU,_ the voice repeated. Lance could literally feel the vibrations travel through his body. "Um, hi! I'm Lance. Who are you?" He glanced over at Allura. She was wide-eyed with fear. That was really not comforting.

 _WHO ARE YOU._

"I think this thing is stuck on repeat," Lance said. His own voice was a little too high-pitched for his liking. This whole thing was way past strange and a little more than creepy. Mind-bending was more like it.

"This isn't funny, Lance." Allura's voice was tense. "I think this is some kind of consciousness attached to the crystal. I've heard of things like this before."

"So we're what, intruding on its space or something?"

"Something like that, yes. Now I believe it is judging us to determine whether to completely eliminate us or simply turn our minds to mush."

"There's got to be an option three there." Lance felt the ground beneath them shift, sending him stumbling towards Allura. They ended up back to back, both automatically taking a defensive stance even though all they could see were swirling colors.

 _YOU ARE KIN TO US. REVEAL YOURSELF._

"What does that mean?"

Allura shook her head, and then spoke in her most commanding princess voice. "Great crystal, we are not your kin. I am Altean, one of the last of my kind."

 _NOT YOU. THE OTHER._

Allura shot a confused glance at Lance. "Sorry to disappoint you, crystal . . . guy." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm pretty sure I'm not your long lost cousin. I'm from Earth. We don't have any talking crystals there."

 _YOUR QUINTESSENCE BEARS THE MARK OF OUR KIND._

Lance remembered the explosion. "Oh, yeah, right. I was there when our old crystal was destroyed. I think I got affected by some of the color thingies."

Allura raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't remember any of that?"

He shrugged. "I didn't, not until the crystal showed me a memory."

 _YOU DO NOT DESERVE SUCH A GIFT._

Lance felt a tingling sensation in his legs and looked down to see colors winding around them like vines. "What are you doing?"

 _PROVE YOUR WORTH. WHO ARE YOU._

* * *

Hunk frowned. Lance hadn't moved, but something weird was happening. The surface of the crystal was shimmering with moving, glowing colors. Some of them had wound themselves around Lance's hand, looking uncomfortably like snakes. Hunk hated snakes.

"Coran, what's happening?" Hunk said, eyeing the snake-things nervously.

"Ah. Well. I was hoping this wouldn't happen."

"What do you mean?" asked Shiro with a frown. Pidge and Keith, who'd sat down a few feet away, stood up and came closer.

"It's difficult to explain." Coran sighed. "The crystal has noticed Lance and Princess Allura's presence and is preparing to defend itself."

"Like antibodies when they encounter germs?" Pidge asked.

"Not exactly like that, but close enough. Either way, we need to get them out of there if we can."

"What happens if we just pull them away?" Hunk asked. The snake-things were almost to Lance's elbow now.

"It won't work." Coran tugged on his moustache, deep in thought. "We need to make sure they can return to their bodies. Otherwise they would just go into comas and die. Of course, that will probably happen anyway."

* * *

"I told you, I'm Lance! I'm the blue paladin!"

"That won't be enough," Allura said. She turned so that she could look Lance in the eye. "What made the other crystal choose you?"

"I was the only one there! Besides Coran, I guess, but he was probably too far away."

"No." Allura shook her head emphatically. "Tell me exactly what happened. There must be something more."

Lance explained what had happened in the memory the crystal had shown him. "See, it was just chance!"

She shook her head again. "The quintessence of the crystal could have just dissipated, but instead it chose to attach itself to you. There must be a reason."

He threw up his hands. "I don't know! I'm not smart like Hunk and Pidge, or strong like Shiro and Keith. I'm not from an ancient cool alien race like you and Coran. I'm just a normal guy who likes to crack stupid jokes all the time!"

Allura stared at him. "You don't really believe that, do you?"

The ground trembled beneath them again. Lance felt the twisting colors reach his torso. "Why wouldn't I? Maybe Blue chose me out of desperation, like Haggar said. I'm nothing special."

Allura reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, the one that didn't have Hunk's hand on it. "You've saved so many lives already, Lance. How is that not special?"

Lance felt his breath catch in his throat a little bit. "Fine. So I'm good at throwing myself into things without thinking, and sometimes I get lucky." He winced as the vines curled across his chest. This wasn't working.

"That's it!" Allura said excitedly. "You saved Coran that day! You pushed him out of the way of the explosion."

Lance blinked. "Well, yeah. Of course I did."

The voice rumbled one last time. _SACRIFICE. YOU WILL SACRIFICE FOR THOSE WHO CANNOT SAVE THEMSELVES. A WORTHY TRAIT INDEED._

A second later, the whole crystal was flooded with blue white light and Lance felt himself falling.

* * *

Lance woke up on the floor of the control room. Hunk was kneeling next to him, looking worried out of his mind. "Dude, are you okay?"

Lance sat up slowly and then checked himself over. He was expecting to see burns on his hands, at the very least, but he seemed fine. He looked up at Hunk. "Yeah, I think so." He winced as a sudden spike of pain went through his head. "Except my head really, really hurts."

"You're quite lucky your head didn't explode." Coran was standing a few feet away, looking way too pleased with himself. "I've seen it happen. Very unpleasant."

"What happened?" Lance looked over and saw Allura sitting on the floor near Coran. She smiled at him.

"We won. With our help, the crystal was able to cleanse itself of Haggar's influence. And because of you, it didn't decide to kill us."

"And now the castle has enough energy to take off, once the Princess has recovered enough to create a wormhole," said Coran with a beaming grin.

"Good job, Lance," said Shiro, holding out a hand to help him up.

Lance shrugged. "I'm not really sure what I did, but I'll take it."

Allura got to her feet as well. "Everyone, get to your seats. Let's get out of here."


	18. Being Awesome

Chapter Seventeen

 _Two days later . . ._

Lance strolled into Pidge and Hunk's workroom. Hunk wasn't there, but Pidge was sitting hunched over a computer, the light reflecting off her glasses.

"Hey, Pidge, what's up?"

Pidge sat back and looked over at Lance with a raised eyebrow. "Just trying to sort through Sendak's memories to find something to use against the Galra. What are you doing?"

Lance shrugged, looking over the stuff scattered all over her table. "Just trying to find something to do. Hey, is that Rover?" He poked at the drone. "I thought he got destroyed when Sendak took over the castle."

"He did. I found the pieces and put him back together. Well, mostly. All the parts are back together, but he won't turn on, no matter what I do. And I've tried just about everything."

"Huh. That's weird."

Pidge suddenly leaned forward, staring intently at something on the computer screen. "Wait, is that . . . just a sec. I need to go check something." She stood up and bolted out of the room. Lance wandered aimlessly around the room for a few moments, looking at all the bits and pieces of things that Pidge and Hunk had been playing around with lately. But his attention kept getting drawn back to the inactive Rover. He walked back to the table and poked at it again. If Pidge couldn't fix it, it must really be broken. Unless it was missing something that she couldn't put back . . .

Acting on impulse, Lance held out his hand and let his quintessence light up his hand in glowing blue wisps. He'd been practicing with it the last couple days, and now it was becoming second nature to him. He placed his hand on the drone, which gave a little hum and lit up with blue light. Lance smiled and strolled out of the room, whistling. Pidge would never know.

* * *

A few hours later, Lance was in his lion's hangar, checking Blue over one last time before they went to check out the Galra super base that Pidge had found in Sendak's memories.

"Hey, Lance?" He turned to see Pidge in the doorway, Rover hovering just behind her.

"Yeah?" He tried to keep a straight face, but couldn't help a slight smirk.

"Thanks." She smiled knowingly.

Lance gave his best innocent smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Pidge rolled her eyes and left. Lance let his smile relax into a triumphant grin. He felt well and truly awesome.

THE END

* * *

 **Author's Note: Yes, this is the end. I know I could have added more, but this felt like the right place to end it. A big thank you to all of you who reviewed, followed, or favorited. It was great to be able to share a story with people who enjoy it. Thanks for the support!**


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